Dan Gurney: 1931-2018

[GradyPhilpott]

One of the greats in auto racing has died.

Dan Gurney, the tall, handsome, all-American driver from California, who had success in almost every kind of road racing there is, and who drove in the golden age of Grand Prix and sports car competition in Europe and America, passed away today of complications from pneumonia at the age of 86.

“With one last smile on his handsome face, Dan drove off into the unknown just before noon today,” read an email signed Evi Gurney, the Gurney family and AAR teammates. “In deepest sorrow, with gratitude in our hearts for the love and joy you have given us during your time on this earth, we say, ‘Godspeed.”

Gurney was born in Long Island, New York on April 13, 1931. His dad was a star in the Metropolitan Opera and his grandfather was a manufacturer who invented something called the Gurney ball bearing. The Gurney family moved from Long Island to Riverside when Dan graduated high school and from there the young future-racer got going. There’s a famous photo of the teenaged Dan Gurney waving to a camera as he works on a car with the words, “Bonneville or Bust” scrawled on it. He drove his first road race in a triumph TR2 in 1955 and from there never stopped winning, both as a driver, constructor and team owner.

In all he won seven times in Formula 1, seven times in IndyCar, five times in NASCAR – all at Riverside – and took two second-place finishes at the Indy 500. In sports cars he won at Nurburgring, Daytona, Sebring and, of course, Le Mans, among many other iconic tracks. His career included 42 pole positions and 58 front rows. He was the first driver to post wins in all four of the major fields of competition: Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and sports cars. Only two other drivers have done it since: Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/racing/d...#ixzz54IeWwJ9u

A.J. Foyt on death of racing legend Dan Gurney: It's hard to believe he's gone

Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/racing/a...#ixzz54IgFgWtY

Racing pioneer Dan Gurney dead from pneumonia complications

[JUSTIFIED]

He surely was one of the greats!

[77T]

A hero in my line of work - Dan was inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame in 2014, my first year as Executive Steward. Some of his achievements are in a press release we issued.

Like many drivers in the 1950s, Gurney started with SCCA Club races. He was sssooo sssmmmoooothh on the wheel and brakes that winning was as easy as smiling and winking.

Later - on international circuits he schooled many veteran drivers. So, in a way he was the definitive “overnight success.”

Sports Illustrated reported that way in 1959, “Dan Gurney, an obscure club driver 16 months ago, has joined the Ferrari sports car team.”

Then two years later in 1961, he tied British great Stirling Moss for third in the F1 Championship.

He also invented his own car - the Eagle - and won in it. He was the first to break the 150-mph barrier at Indianapolis. And the only American to ever win an F1 race in a car of his own design at the Belgian Grand Prix.

He was the first to claim victories in all four major categories of motorsports; F1, International Sports Cars, Indy Cars, and NASCAR. He scored wins in SCCA Trans-Am, SCCA CanAm, and international championship races including the endurance classics at the Nurburgring, Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. And at times, cars from his All American Racers shop dominated in both IMSA and Indy Cars.

He was also an innovator - at the 1968 German Grand Prix the first driver to use a full-face helmet in Grand Prix racing, and was the first to do so at Indy.

In 1971, he developed the Gurney Flap (wickerbill), an aerodynamic innovation that has been adopted by automobile racing and aviation throughout the world. And he was instrumental in launching the rear-engine revolution in Indianapolis in 1963.

His innovations weren’t only in the field of things technological. A week before his historic win in the Belgian Grand Prix, he took a surprise victory with A.J. Foyt at 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Gurney famously began the now-familiar winner's tradition of spraying champagne from the podium.

One more champion in heaven to keep the competition even


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[zama]

Legend in every way, and raced everything before going to success in other areas of business and engineering

[Chewbacca]

Very talented and brave. Was also very underrated as a builder and sport ambassador.

Rip

[joeychitwood]

I watched Gurney dress down a young Max Papis in the paddocks at the Detroit Grand Prix years ago for cutting off his driver and damaging his car. I think Papis would have rather been hit in the head with a brick than be scolded by the legendary driver and designer.

[The Libertine]

True racing legend. Rest In Peace.

[nick c]

Rest In Peace